The Age newspaper reports that "It was the mining industry and its representative lobby groups, such as the Minerals Council, which months ago began calling for donations to environmental organisations to no longer be tax deductible". The Federal Council of the Liberal Party has endorsed the call for green groups to have their tax status removed.

The Committee says “over 600 environmental groups are currently deductible gift recipients (DGRs). This allows them to access tax-deductible donations to fund important, practical work to improve the natural environment. We need to ensure that tax deductible donations, which are a generous concession from the taxpayer, are used for the purpose intended and expected by the community.”

The terms of reference suggest that activities which involve on-ground environmental works constitute ‘appropriate’ activity. The subtext here is that advocacy and activism and, especially direct action, are not.

What the Committee seems to be ignoring is the High Court case of 2010 which confirmed the right of DGR listed groups to engage in political debate and advocacy.

What is the agenda behind this Inquiry?

The federal environment minister Greg Hunt requested the Inquiry happen. So if the Committee does recommend groups lose their tax status, responsibility will ultimately rest with him.

In spite of the High Court precedent, the agenda of conservative elements within the government is clear:

"We've got 100 to 150 groups that seem to have their purpose at stopping industrial development, not just mining, some of those developments include tourism developments or agricultural developments but engaging in what I would view as a political debate, not the environmental debate."

Clearly, Mr Canavan and others want to see up to 150 groups struck off the Register. Loss of DGR status will be nothing short of disasterous for the majority of these groups. It is not hard to work out who these groups are: the key regional, state-based and national organisations with a strong advocacy and campaign focus, especially those working on climate change issues.

The Committee is composed of 7 Coalition and 5 ALP MPs.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus - Labor's frontbench representative on the committee - has declared the review an "ideological attack by the government on political advocacy".

“To say that climate change is human induced is to overblow and overstate our role in the scheme of the universe quite completely over a long period of time.”

This is of concern given that mainstream science clearly shows that one of the gravest threats to the natural environment comes from unabated climate change. If green groups are to act effectively to protect natural ecosystems, they must also respond to the threats posed by climate change. (After the leadership reshuffle in The Coalition which saw Malcolm Turnbull become the PM, Mr Hawke was replaced as Chair by Nationals MP John Cobb).

The Committee has recently appointed two supplementary members. One is George Christensen, an MP from Queensland, who has called environmental activists "gutless green grubs" and "terrorists" and said "the greatest terrorism threat in North Queensland, I'm sad to say, comes from the extreme green movement". After attending the hearing in Brisbane, Mr Christensen said "evidence points to them losing their tax deductibility status", a disturbing pre-empting of the outcome of the Inquiry.

UPDATE 2016

Hearings have now concluded and the Committee is expected to release its reports(s) in May.

Don’t let them get away with a witch hunt

1/ Track what is happening in the Inquiry.

While submissions are now closed, hearings are due to start in mid June. We will need people to be tracking the hearings, as the questions put forward by Committee members will show the agenda of the government.

The first hearings were held on tuesday June 16 and thursday June 18. The federal environment department and the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC) were the first to appear. These are the entities responsible for managing environmental organisations on the REO and the ACNC more broadly manages the not for profit sector.

Both the department and the ACNC said there were no significant problems with the current management systems. The ACNC says that it has the appropriate enforcement powers to regulate charities. This begs the question - why proceed with further hearings if both government bodies that manage the sector say there are no significant problems?

There have now been public hearings in a range of places including Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart. FoE appeared before the Inquiry in Melbourne on September 21. If you would like further information or would like to attend the hearings, please check here.

Check the FoE Twitter account for updates on the issues that are raised by the Committee. This will tell us a lot about their motivation and agenda.

Please Sign the petition: Protect Tax-deductible Donations for Environment Groups. This has been put together by a concerned individual and will be delivered in July.

[Image: rally in support of environmental organisations, outside HoR hearings in Melbourne, September 21].

2/ get your friends active

We need to show the government that any attack on the environment movement is an attack on democracy. If you are a member of any organisation, let them know about the Inquiry. We need a broad cross section of the community to get active on this issue.

3/ tell Alex you’re watching him

Conservative MP Alex Hawke is the chair of the committee running the Inquiry. Please tell him you don’t want a witch hunt against the green movement:

Australian public support environmental advocacy

The mining and forestry lobby campaign to remove tax-deductibility for certain non-for-profit organisations they deem contrary to their business interests, does not have the support of the Australian public, according to new polling.

Australia needs politically active environmental groups

Miners 'hypocritical' on tax status, says Greenpeace

The Age. Journalist Heath Aston. June 12, 2015

Greenpeace has accused the mining lobby of "breathtaking hypocrisy" in its attempt to silence environmental groups by stripping them of charitable status when minerals and oil industry groups are themselves bankrolled by tax-deductible contributions from mining companies.